Miss Carson, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Curator: At first glance, this image feels… fragile. It has this hazy quality, like a half-remembered dream. There's a stillness and delicate sort of sadness in it. Editor: We’re looking at "Miss Carson," one of a series of actresses photographed by Allen & Ginter between 1885 and 1891. These cards, distributed with Virginia Brights Cigarettes, captured popular figures of the time. It's fascinating to consider how celebrity and consumer culture intersected even then. Curator: She seems so ethereal! You'd think she was leaning against a Roman ruin but in fact, it's all probably made from card stock, a theatre prop— the real smoke and mirrors. The textures in the photograph too have that hazy affect that the pictorialists used—trying to look like a painting. Editor: Precisely. And let's unpack the context of pictorialism a little further— how it offered women more opportunities, both in front of and behind the camera. The movement itself challenged the dominant ideas surrounding gender roles in creative work in particular at the end of the 19th century. Of course the commercial imperative somewhat complicates this as cigarettes are intrinsically tied to harmful masculinity. Curator: But look at the detailing in her costume, this almost orientalist flourish… it really throws you off balance. Editor: The exoticization, especially through costuming, was extremely prevalent. It speaks volumes about the performative aspects of identity that are inextricably linked to consumerism itself. And let’s not ignore the subtle but clear social implications here, that are related to gender, commerce, and power. Curator: I see that! Now I can’t help wondering how Miss Carson felt, being both an actress and a promotional tool…Did she see any of this herself, you know, the way her image would play into those forces? It makes you rethink celebrity as more than just glamour, and it feels a bit heavy somehow, that responsibility… Editor: Indeed. Considering Miss Carson’s own experience is crucial, isn't it? To look beyond our own biases to engage fully with a work such as this! Curator: Definitely a shift of perspective. Makes you question every surface, every little fragment! Editor: Right? Exactly what art should do!